It was an nearly overlooked barking and eventual face-to-face with no -or minimum- physical confrontation on the pregame between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Georgia Bulldogs players. The defense was great as usual, but the offense didn’t have its best effort.
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Led by linebacker Reggie Ragland’s eight tackles (seven solos), Alabama’s defensive was unyielding, allowing only 220 total yards to the Razorbacks (176 passing, 44 rushing) while allowing just 1.8 yards per rush. Fortunately he returned to the game in fine fashion.
Arkansas tailback Alex Collins has rushed for 170, 151 and 154 yards in his last three games. Humphrey is rounding into his own, however, and is up to the task more often than not. “I’m excited to see what the second half of the season holds for us”. Reed ran the final 27 yards on his 54-yard touchdown pass play in the fourth quarter. The Crimson Tide racked up 11 rushing yards on six attempts on that drive, most which came on a 7-yard scramble by quarterback Jake Coker.
Offensively, it was a tale of two halves.
Alabama will try to maintain that standard starting at 6:30 Saturday night against the Hogs, they are favored by 16. Junior Brittany Thomas surpassed the 200 kill mark for the season last weekend, as she leads the team with 217 (3.14/set). Unfortunately he cracked again under the pressure in the first half, throwing two interceptions.
“Their quarterback did a really good job”, Saban said.
As for the Tide, they got their groove back big time in Athens, thrashing a top-10 Georgia team 38-10 behind a 26 carry, 148-yard performance from tailback Derrick Henry that earned him SEC Player of the Week honors. The bread and butter of the Razorbacks is their run game. But I don’t understand them in context of plays surrounding them. This has become a trend this season, and likely points to Lane Kiffin’s mastery of the halftime adjustment.
The second half saw more of the same from two defenses that weren’t willing to give up a yard without a fight. Alabama freshman Calvin Ridley had 120 yards against Georgia with Robert Foster out after shoulder surgery. “I thought we didn’t play poorly in the first half; we just turned the ball over and didn’t finish drives in the red zone”. It broke open a game that had been teetering on the brink. Richard Mullaney continues to complement Ridley’s big play threat with tough catches over the middle.
“A big play in the game was stopping their little fake punt thing, which we knew they had”, Saban said.
Nick Saban gave Griffith a chance to shrink the gap before the half, but the 48-yard attempt missed wide right. “We can get a lot of guys healthy in two weeks”. When Bret Bielema popped off at the mouth about the Ohio State Buckeyes, the Razorbacks were on the short list to win the SEC West. They lost three straight games, culminating with an overtime defeat at the hands of the Texas A&M Aggies. Such is life in the SEC.
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With that sort of production, Alabama’s run defense has been among the top five of the country throughout the season, and have been No. 1 the Southeastern Conference in that category all year.
